Demo 1
Because finishing the full Bards, Beards and Birds game is a daunting task, there will be made several demos before the release of the actual game. These demos are intended to be smaller game entities, featuring characters and problems that are closely connected to the story in the full game. The demos will give the opportunity to gradually introduce new features that will be incorporated into the full version of Bards, Beards and Birds. Demo 1: Finding the Mask of Mockery This first demo introduces some key features of Bards, Beards and Birds. In the demo the player can move the hero around and interact with non playable characters and certain objects. The level will give an idea of the kind of puzzles the player will have to solve in the final game. On this adventure the hero has to go out in the wilderness in search for the mystical Mask of Mockery. Story Emmon desperately needs a new lute to fight Mister B. and his villains. Because his last lute was detuned past recovery by Confusion Cat, our hero is now unarmed in his all-encompassing battle with the Evil Forces. Benny Twospoons, the owner of The Two Spoons, happens to own a lute, the bart's favourite instrument. Even though Emmon desperately needs it, the grumpy ex-clown refuses to give it away for nothing. Benny tells Emmon about the Mask of Mockery, a scary looking ancient mask, that he very much would like to posses. Of course he could sell the rare mask for a good price, but the former clown is particularly looking forward to putting it on and scaring the customers. Making use of Emmons desperation, the underhand clown makes clear he will give Emmon his lute only in exchange for the mask. Knowing how badly Emmon needs the instrument, Benny is quite sure he will soon be the happy owner of the scary mask. Next to The Two Spoons is a sinister voodoo building, It is the Tear Collector, owned by the dreadful Ay, the Tear Collector himself. At the moment Ay is sitting in front of his store on a bench. He tells Emmon that he locked himself out of his shop, as he has lost his keys. As it turns out, when Emmon brings up the topic of the mask to find out where it could be, Ay too, desires the mask because it would complete the Masks of Displeasure owned by him. He claims he has a lute too, although Emmon has no way to confirm this. He is able to tell Emmon that the Mask of Mockery is located in an ancient Anchorian building, the Museum of Mockery, in the winderness outside the town. When Emmon wants to leave town his path is blocked by a very serious looking sentinel. The sentinel also knows of the temple in the wilderness and it is exactly the reason why he has barricaded the road. He, in name of the king, is very concerned that the clumsy bard will injure himself if he wanders off into the unknown. He will only let Emmon through if he looks audacious enough to pass for a real adventurer. Luckily for our hero the Tear Collector has a very special potion, a Roughneck Shot, that will make the hero look more tough. This is exactly what can be used to deceive the overprotective guard. Ay, however, does not give away the potion easily. The hero has to force him into a corner with his witty dialogue to finally convince him that he is going to get him the mask. (Optional: Ay does not yet have the potion but needs certain ingredients to brew it. This is of course a task of the hero, branching off a new story line). With the guard out of the way, Emmon can leave the town and advance to the crater where the Museum of Mockery is located. In order to reach the museum, which is situated quite high up, Emmon has to climb up several levels along the edges of the crater. Down at the ground level is a small lake (Optional: something could be located here, or behind the waterfall, branching off a new story line) He than has to go through a cave that goes onto the mountain. When he comes out at the other end of the cave, he is back at the crater while he passed the waterfall in the middle of the crater. Emmon then has a moving platform in front of him. The platform goes up and then follows the edge of the crater a bit, ending at the temple entrance. In order to reach the Anchorian temple, Emmon can jump on the platform. Watch out with jumping or falling down though, the player can be killed in the fall! To get into the Museum of Mockery, Emmon has to solve some small puzzle. This will open the doors. Inside is a big hall with painted walls and a pillar in the middle. On it is the Mask of Mockery. Of course, after obtaining the mask the hero does not give it to Ay, as he promised, but rather to Benny Twospoons. Emmon now finally acquired a lute. ( ) = Not yet started (/) = Being worked on (V) = Completed Gameplay features: *Locomotion system: walking (V), running (V), jumping (V), strafing (/) *Climbing (/) *The player can die and be revived (V) *Third person camera system (V) *Inventory, picking up and using unique items and potions (/) *Moving platforms (/) *Main Menu ( ) *Dialogue trees (V) * GUI panels and buttons (/) * Quest window and tracking ( ) Assets: *Emmon, the hero (V) *Ay, the tear collector (V) *Benny Twospoons, ex-clown and trader (V) *Sentinel (V) *Tear collector shop, exterior (V) *The Two Spoons shop, exterior (V) + interior (/) *Eastern Quarter houses, exterior (V) *Cave, U-shaped (V) * Streaming waterfall () *Museum of Mockery, an Anchorian temple, exterior (/), interior (just the hall) (/) *Collectable Items: **Roughneck shot, ( ) **rupees, (/) **Mask of Mockery, (V) **lute (V) *Paraphernalia: treasure chest (/), fences, Sentinel beehive hut (/), handcart (/), garlands (/), crates Sounds *Player action sounds such as walking, jumping etc. ( ) *Picking up something ( ) *Dialogues **Ay (/) **Benny (/) **Sentinel (/) *Music: Street, Ay dialogue ( ), The Two Spoons (V), Crater ( ), Temple entry ( ) Other *Demo Icon ( ) Dialogues Ay #Before Emmon has spoken to Benny, Ay will not refer to the Mask of Mockery. Ay sits outside because he has lost his keys, which of course does not fit his dark appearance. The key issue suggests that the player has to do something with it. However, this is not the case. #After talking with Benny, Ay can tell about the Mask of Mockery. Ay desires the mask to complete his search for the three Masks of Displeasure. He has a lute, but cannot show it to Emmon as he can't enter his house. #After being blocked by the Sentinel, it becomes apparent that Ay has the Roughneck Shot that Emmon needs to get past the guard. If Emmon has enough money he can try to buy the potion from Ay. Ay, however, will cheat on him and not give the potion after taking the money (which is supposed to drive the player mad). Instead, the hero has to convince Ay to give the Roughneck shot to him for free. #After obtaining the Roughneck shot, Emmon can tell Ay about his progress. #After obtaining the Mask, Emmon can tease Ay with it, but not giving it to him as Benny has more direct access to a lute. Benny #If Emmon did not yet spot the lute, Benny will introduce himself and tell about his shop. Emmon then can mention that he needs an instrument, after which Benny can show Emmon the lute. #If Emmon saw the lute already before having his first conversation with Benny, he can start off asking Benny for the lute. Afterwards Benny still introduces himself and his shop. Emmon gets overexcited about the lute (as he sees that it could solve his problem) and betrays how much he wants it. Where Benny at first seemed to easily give the thing away for a low price, he now suddenly changes his attitude and begins a story about how he is personally connected to the instrument. One moment it seems he won't be willing to give the instrument at all. After insisting the clown cunningly announces that he could give to lute to the person who delivers him the Mask of Mockery. He can charge a good price for the rare mask, but especially looks forward to scaring customers or using it for other pranks. Unfortunately the mask has been long lost. #Emmon has been informed by Ay about the location of the mask and is on his way to get it. #Emmon has been informed by Ay about the location of the mask and is on his way to get it. However the sentinel refuses to let him through. Emmon can try to get help from Benny by asking for things that he sells in his shop but has no success with this. #Emmon is past the sentinel and on his way to get the mask. #Emmon has the mask and trades it with Benny. Sentinel #The sentinel won't let Emmon through. Before Emmon heard about the Mask of Mockery, he does not have a way to argue with the guard. #The sentinel won't let Emmon through. Emmon knows, however, that in order to obtain the Mask of Mockery he has to get past the guard. The sentinel is not impressed and tells our hero that the king is very worried that Emmon will get himself into trouble if he wanders into the wild. The sentinel will only let Emmon through if he can prove that he is able to stand the dangers of what lies ahead. #Emmon received help from Ay and impresses the sentinel. He lets him through. #Emmon has passed the sentinel already. He has nothing more to say. Plot holes, design questions *With what kind of mechanism does the moving platform move? *With what puzzle does the door of the temple open? *What does the Mask of Mockery look like? Testing for: *dialogue lines timing: gap between lines too short, too long etc. *flaws in the dialogue system logic: options disappear etc. *NPC animation: NPC play talking animation while listening to a line of the hero etc. *differences between words of the dialogue text and the dialogue sound * dialogue volume balance (do the characters in the dialogue have the same volume) Demo 2 Mister B. wants to close the Outside in Art Gallery because it drains money from his failing BBusiness Empire. Emmon's friend X is a thorough art lover and is very upset. Other citizens seem very indifferent however. If Emmon would find the Mask(?) of Cynicism in the Tower of Cynicism(?) and donate it to the museum, Mr. B. might be persuaded to keep the place open, as new visitors would flock to the museum. What is new? Gameplay features: * Fighting enemies and the possibility to apply 'performances' * Reworked character controller system * Musical resistance bar * Collecting Musical Phobias, to increase the Musical resistance bar. * Simple enemy AI * Minimap * Save game * Load game Assets * Mr. B. * Remodelled Emmon * Fortune teller woman * Outside in Gallery * The Tower of Cynicism * Water mill street Demo 3 Gameplay features: * Swimming * NPC routines * Equipment switching Assets: Category:Quests